Magic Johnson Theater Screening Nadine Patterson’s “Tango MacBeth” on April 23^rd

By Deardra Shuler

Award winning Filmmaker/writer/producer, Nadine Patterson, will be screening her film “Tango Macbeth” at the Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem, located at 2309 Frederick Douglas Boulevard in Manhattan, (124^th St and Frederick Douglas Boulevard) on Wednesday, April 23^rd from 6:30-8:15 pm.

“Tango Macbeth’ will be Ms. Patterson’s first feature film. Some of her documentary films include “I Used to Teach English,” which won her the Golden Apple Award via the 1994 National Educational Film/Video Festival in Oakland, Ca.; “Anna Russell Jones Praisesong for a Pioneering Spirit” which won Best Documentary 1993 via the African American Women in the Arts Film/Video Competition in Chicago; “Moving on with the Dreaming,” winner of the Prized Piece Award from the National Black Programming Consortium; and “Toda El Mundo Dance” selected by the 2001-2002 Council on Foundations Film and Video Festival.  Her other notable works include “Shizue” screened at the Museum of Modern Art in NY and “Release” shown at the Constellation Change Dance Film Festival of London. 

“Shakespeare has a strong connection to the African American community.  Did you know that A. Phillip Randolph was an amateur Shakespearean actor?  He was, and he did amateur productions in his Church.  He even considered acting as a career prior to going into activism and labor politics.  Because he was grounded in Shakespeare and theater, it helped him as a public speaker with his oratorical speeches and as a political organizer.  Fredrick Douglas and Martin Luther King Jr., also studied and knew Shakespeare” informed Patterson.

Born in New York but raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Nadine Patterson attended Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA., where she won her Bachelors studying theater production and economics.  She earned her Masters in Instructional Media at Westchester University where she learned about documentary film production and television.

“For 15 years, I worked in public television. I was a producer/director and cameraperson

at the School District of Philadelphia’s Cable Access station.  We produced some of the first distance learning interactive programming. We had programming wherein we taught  Elementary Chinese (Mandarin) or taught people to speak Swahili.  It was very diverse, multicultural and educational.  I wanted to go into narrative cinema so I applied to the London Film School where I earned a Masters if Art, her second Masters.  While in London, I learned the craft of cinema from some of the best filmmakers on the planet,” remarked Nadine, who has always enjoyed using her imagination and telling stories. She started her first journal in first grade and has been informing people about varied cultures ever since.

Filmmaking encompasses, design, business, makeup, theater, music, poetry, costuming, writing, directing, researching, photography, et al.  Therefore, in order to be an effective filmmaker one must know all of the disciplines.

“I have a deep fascination with history.  It is important to know the historical context for which my movies are being set. In terms of Tango MacBeth, Shakespeare is a transitional author who’s work is somewhere between old English and contemporary English.  A lot of the phrases we use today in our English were created by Shakespeare. He looks at issues of race and gender.  He looks at issues of male/female marriage relationship which is a very contemporary issue. 

“In my film, “Tango MacBeth,” we looked at the relationship between Lady Macbeth and her husband MacBeth, who were like the power couples of today who work as a team to achieve great things.  But what happens with many people of today as in my story’s case, is once some people achieve great wealth and power, they lose sight and become greedy and power hungry. Like our political system of today. The question becomes what do we do as people in the community to stand up to this type of warped power structure? 

“I have an open casting system in my play wherein I cast the best actor for the part, irrespective of race or gender,” continued Nadine.  “I think people will be surprised to see how emotional engaging my film is.  The audience sees people that look like them.  People look at Tango Macbeth and see this is a movie for them.  It’s a very multi-cultural film.  You are in a theater with a company that is rehearsing MacBeth.  It is a documentary and narrative film about a rehearsal process. This is what makes it unique.” explained the producer/director/filmmaker.

Brian Anthony Wilson plays MacDuff.  He was Detective Vernon Holley on “The Wire.”  Alexandra Bailey, a Shakespearean actress, plays Lady MacBeth. This is her first feature film role.  Carlo Campbell plays MacBeth, and also in the film is the wonderful dancer Justin Bryant who plays Prince Malcolm. The music is by Lenny Seidman and the choreography by Zane Booker.

Nadine owns and operates her own production and consulting company, Harmony Image Productions with her mother Marlene G. Patterson. In 2011, she published her first book Always Emerging which regales her experiences as an independent filmmaker.

For those parties wishing to learn more about Nadine Patterson and her films, go to www.Tangomacbeth.com